Keeping Our Best? A Survival Analysis Examining Teacher Quality and Teacher Attrition

• In Event: 69.041 - Recruiting and Retaining Teachers From and for Underserved Schools

Abstract

A long-standing body of research indicates that teachers have a significant impact on student learning and that providing access to high-quality teachers is essential to raising student achievement, especially among traditionally underserved student groups. Therefore, recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers into the profession is of critical importance. In this study, we examine the relationship between an observational measure of teacher quality and teachers’ decisions to enter and remain in the profession in a state with a large proportion of traditionally underserved students (i.e. low-income, English language learner, etc.). We find that higher-quality teachers are more likely to enter and remain in the profession after accounting for a variety of factors typically associated with professional attrition.

Authors

• Robert Vagi, Arizona State University

• Margarita Pivovarova, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Wendy Miedel Barnard, Arizona State University